Climate change protesters who have brought parts of London to a standstill said Sunday they were prepared to call a halt if the British government will discuss their demands.

Some 963 arrests have been made and 42 people charged in connection with the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests.

On the seventh day of demonstrations that have occupied key spots in the British capital, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the demonstrators, telling them: "Humanity is standing at a crossroads."

Organisers said they were willing to switch tactics from disruption to dialogue next week -- if the government enters talks.

"We are prepared to pause, should the government come to the negotiating table," Extinction Rebellion spokesman James Fox told AFP.

"What the pause looks like is us stopping an escalation.

"We can discuss leaving if they are willing to discuss our demands.

"At the moment, we haven't received a response from the government... so we're waiting on that."

Extinction Rebellion was established last year in Britain by academics and has become one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements.

Campaigners want governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and be led by new "citizens' assemblies on climate and ecological justice.

"We're giving them an opportunity now to come and speak to us," Fox told AFP.

"If they refuse to come and negotiate with us, then this is going to continue and this is going to escalate in different, diverse and very creative ways."

- Thunberg: 'ecological crisis' -

Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist who has inspired pupils worldwide to boycott classes to join climate protests, addressed the cheering crowds at the Marble Arch landmark, the only authorised demonstration site.

"For way too long the politicians and people in power have got away with not doing anything at all to fight the climate crisis and ecological crisis," she said.

"But we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer."

She continued: "How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like?

"Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take.

"We are waiting for the others to follow our example."

Police said they had managed to clear the protesters from Parliament Square and the Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus junctions.

Those charged range in age from 19 to 77. They hail from around England and Wales, with one person from France charged.

The charges are for various offences including breaching public order laws, obstructing a highway and obstructing police.

- Mayor: time to stop -

Calling for an end to the protests, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more than 9,000 police officers had been responding to the demonstrations, which had left the force as a whole overstretched.

"This is now taking a real toll on our city... this is counter-productive to the cause," he said.

"I'm extremely concerned about the impact the protests are having on our ability to tackle issues like violent crime.

"You must now let London return to business as usual."

In the blazing sunshine on Waterloo Bridge, police lifted protesters and carried them off to waiting police vans.

"I'm genuinely terrified. I think about it all the time. I'm so scared for the world. I feel like there is going to be calamity in my lifetime," student Amber Gray told AFP.

"I don't even feel comfortable bringing children into this world knowing that that is coming.

"And I don't want people in the future to say to me, 'why didn't you do anything?'."

London climate protest arrests top 700
London (AFP) April 20, 2019 - The Extinction Rebellion environmental protests in London rumbled on into a sixth day Saturday as the total number of arrests hit 718.

Demonstrators were continuing to block Waterloo Bridge in the city and the central Oxford Circus junction despite the removal by police of the pink sailing boat which had acted as a natural focal point for the movement.

Some 28 people have been charged in relation to the protests, which have caused disruption for commuters in the British capital.

The protests are organised by the campaign group Extinction Rebellion, which was established last year in Britain by academics and has become one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements.

Campaigners want governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and be led by new "citizens' assemblies on climate and ecological justice".

Police have been trying to confine the protests to one site in London, at Marble Arch on the corner of Hyde Park, but the protesters have ignored the threat of arrest and continued to block other sites.

"We are trying our best to give the businesses a chance to return to 'business as usual'," police said.

"One thing that is unusual about this demonstration is the willingness of those participating to be arrested and also their lack of resistance to the arrests."

The large number of arrests has created a "logistical problem" for the police in terms of cell space and also the "wider criminal justice system".

French climate activists in sit-in to denounce 'republic of polluters'
Paris (AFP) April 19, 2019 - Hundreds of French activists on Friday staged a sit-in outside top energy companies in Paris, describing France as the "republic of polluters", as part of a international civil disobedience campaign on climate change.

Some two thousand environmental activists in total assembled at the La Defense business district in a bid to block access to to the headquarters of energy giant Total, electricity firm EDF as well as bank Societe Generale and France's Ministry for Ecological Transition.

Protestors rallied around the slogan, "Block the Republic of Polluters" and held banners bearing the face of President Emmanuel Macron and the message, "Macron, President of polluters".

Some lay on the ground, in what they said was an action symbolising a "climate crime scene".

The demonstration, a joint initiative of ANV-COP21, Greenpeace and Les Amis de la Terre, comes at the end of the "International Week of Rebellion" launched by Extinction Rebellion, the climate change pressure group using civil disobedience to demand action over climate change from politicians and governments worldwide.

Clement Senechal of Greenpeace, told AFP that the protest outside Total was symbolic as the company was the "factory of climate change".

The French multinational ranks among the world's top 20 CO2-emitting companies.

"We have come out to denounce the policy of Macron and show that politics in France happens here and not at the ministry," Cecile Marchand, of Les Amis de la Terre, told the crowd.

But in a message on Twitter, France's minister for ecological transition Francois de Rugy said the activists had "got the enemy wrong... we are acting!"

Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne meanwhile defended the strategy of the energy giant saying the main demand of the population was to have "access to more energy, affordable energy and that this energy is clean".

A window was broken at the Societe Generale tower and tear gas cannisters were briefly deployed by police taking up positions inside the building, according to an AFP photographer.

Their action came after climate change activists brought parts of London to a standstill in a week of demonstrations that have so far led to more than 400 arrests.

Paris was in 2015 the venue for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) which forged a historic agreement on limiting climate change. However activists doubt the commitments will be met.

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